


Tender

by AlyssaKendall



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 09:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssaKendall/pseuds/AlyssaKendall
Summary: A glimpse into the fatherhoods of Scott Lang and Clint Barton in five parts. Or, "Scott and Clint are super dads." Domestic fluff.





	Tender

**Author's Note:**

> I was raised by my father, so I guess there’s a soft spot in my heart for all the good dads out there.  
> *Also, in my own personal headcanon, I like to imagine that after Ultron and the RAFT, Clint and Laura decided they wanted to adopt Wanda as their own, and give her a family. Parts of this fic portray that.  
> *Also, also -- some canon timeline stuff has been overlooked here. Pretend the house arrest thing and that whole Thanos Infinity War thing don't apply here. Thankssss.

****

****

Tender: A Glimpse into the Fatherhoods of Scott Lang and Clint Barton in Five Parts

**I: Tea**  
Scott smiles widely as he feels the small piece of plastic stretch across his head. It’s brittle, barely stretching between his temples, and he’s certain that if he sneezes, it’ll launch across the room. Yet, he looks up to see Cassie’s grin, and he knows it’s worth it.

“Is it working? Am I a princess now?” 

“Yes!” Comes the high-pitched squeal of delight. “Every princess needs a tiara!” She taps her own matching piece of silver plastic. Cassie’s tiara, of course, fits perfectly. “Now, Princess Daddy, here!” 

Scott watches as she picks up the Little Tikes teapot, a piece he remembers purchasing with Maggie for Cassie’s birthday almost two years ago. It feels like yesterday. Cassie pours the imaginary tea into a tiny teacup, and then gives him a warning look. “Be careful, it’s hot! And don’t spill it!” 

“I promise I won’t! Scouts honor!” Scott picks up the cup and pretends to blow on it, while Cassie proceeds to pour a cup for the other guests at their table: Mr. Bear, Minnie Mouse, and Fuzzy. Scott can’t help but to smile wider as Cassie mumbles, “I hope we have enough tea!” before gingerly pouring herself a cup. His eyes meet his daughter’s when she looks up at him with enthusiasm, and raises her glass. “And don’t forget, Daddy!” 

“Pinkies out!” They say the words together.

Scott sips his own glass, and helps Mr. Bear to his cup too. Cassie is focused as she helps both Minnie and Fuzzy, before throwing her hands in the air, shrieking “Oh! I almost forgot!” 

A tiny plastic biscuit -- or maybe it’s a scone or a crumpet, he isn’t entirely sure -- is put on his tiny plate. Scott picks it up with a grin and enthusiastically “gobbles” it up. Cassie laughs, and he’s almost positive that it’s the most wonderful and pure thing he’s ever heard. 

“This is the best tea party ever, don’t you think so, Mr. Bear?” 

Scott speaks through his teeth in his best Winnie-the-Pooh impression, “Why yes, Cassie, the best tea party in the world!” She giggles as Scott’s eyes widen. 

“I agree!” he says. And when Cassie picks up her own glass again, making sure to stick her pinky out as she sips pretend tea, Scott knows he doesn’t have to pretend to love every minute he spends here with her.

 

 **II: Target**  
He had spent the better part of the morning setting everything up. 

A few soda cans, an old stuffed animal with a missing eye and the stuffing starting to burst through its seams, a few stick figures drawn out on the butcher paper that he’d found in Lila’s room, and of course, three separate bullseye targets. Clint set the paper targets up on trees, the stuffed animal on a stake, and the soda cans, well….Laura doesn’t have to know that he set those up on the old tv trays. She had been planning to buy a new set in a darker oak color for at least two months anyway. 

Nevertheless, Clint felt like he had been waiting for this day his entire life -- Cooper finally taking an interest in archery. 

And now here he was, standing behind his son, his first born, helping him to steady his elbow as he draws back to aim, and… 

Cooper barely makes it into the first rings of the bullseye, but it’s a start, and Clint couldn’t smile any wider when the arrow makes contact with the target. From behind them, Lila sits cheering and clapping in a pair of tiny sunglasses and an oversized sun hat.

“Draw back….aim….fire. Don’t think too hard, just focus on your target and do it.” 

Words Clint remembers hearing the first time he learned to shoot too. He helps Cooper level his elbow again before shouting the word “fire!” This time the arrow lands only two rings away from the bullseye. 

“Yes!” He and Lila are cheering louder this time. Cooper tries to keep a solemn expression, but Clint can see right through it. “You’re a natural, son! Keep going!” 

A third shot lands him only one ring away from the bullseyes. So does the fourth. But the fifth shot? Clint is beaming with pride as Cooper shoots his first bullseye. It’s a little off-center, but it’s unmistakably and indisputably there. He’s pulling his son in for a hug, ruffling his hair and cheering him on. 

The rest of the afternoon goes almost completely without a hitch. Other than a few arrows bouncing off the soda cans rather than piercing them, Cooper is a complete natural, and Clint is almost positive that his pride for his son is about to burst through his chest. He’s even able to step back and let Cooper shoot on his own without support for his elbow, or help to aim. They’re nearly finishing the last of the targets when a pregnant Laura comes out carrying a tray with a pitcher of lemonade and three glasses. Clint steps away to help her carry it to an empty lawn chair. 

“I can hear you all the way from the kitchen!” She says with an equally proud smile as she looks at the targets. “Coop, you really do take after your father.” 

In a brief moment, time seems to stand still. Cooper is setting down his bow and quiver when he rushes toward them. Clint is certain it’s to get a glass a lemonade, but instead his breath is nearly knocked out of him as Cooper throws his arms around his waist. 

 

 **III: Due Date**  
It’s 3:15 in the morning when Maggie’s water breaks. 

It’s two weeks too early, and neither of them have any sort of bag packed. Neither of them are ready. Hell, the nursery is hardly even ready, as bare bones as it is. Fortunately, their daughter already has plenty of adorable onesies and outfits ready for her arrival, a crib that is put together, plenty of diapers, and Scott’s pretty sure they have an old folding card table that will double nicely as a changing table until he finally sets up the actual one.

Right now he’s pulling on a pair of pants and shoes as Maggie practices the breathing techniques she learned in those Lamaze classes between contractions and groans. He’s pretty sure he needs to clean up the mess on the bathroom floor before they go, but he’s too worried about getting his wife to the emergency room before she really starts to go into labor. “Come on, Scott, hurry up!” her words sharp and demanding. Scott trips down the last two steps and nearly lands flat on his face as he bursts through the door to the garage. 

“Let’s go, baby, come on, I got you!”

He’s helping his very pregnant wife into the small sedan and then he’s off, racing the San Francisco streets at fifty miles an hour. Anticipation, fear, and excitement all swirl together in his gut like a mixed drink, and he’s worried - absolutely terrified - of not getting to the hospital in time. Maggie groans again and holds her belly at the passing contraction. Scott can’t stop whispering for her to “hold on.” 

They barely make it into the emergency room before Maggie is whisked off to the maternity ward. Scott feels himself being brushed aside as a nurse announces, “she’s already dilated!” and shuts the door to the elevator before he can even ask which floor she’ll be on. He’s nervous, God, he’s so nervous. His wife is in labor, his daughter is on the way, and for the first time in his life he’s going to be responsible for something so precious, so prized and perfect.

It’s nearly two hours before the midwife says to him, “This is it, Mr. Lang. Are you ready? It’s time! The baby is crowning.”

It’s such a weighted question that Scott doesn’t think he could ever answer it. Is he ready to be a father? 

He already has on the smock, the cap, the shoe protectors, the mask. When he enters the room, Maggie is screaming as she’s instructed to push! Hard! Scott wants nothing more than to hold her hand. Still, he stands to her side, supportive. Their daughter is coming. Doctors and medical staff are surrounding Maggie as she pushes, a small head emerging. Then a body.

There are tears running down Scott’s face when he hears that strong cry. Maggie is bawling too, when they ask what her name is. 

“Cassandra,” Scott whispers. “Our daughter. Cassandra.” 

Moments pass like hours before the nurses emerge again. His heart swells and leaps into his throat, and he won’t even pretend he’s not crying as the nurse nods to him. Wrapped in a receiving blanket is the tiniest, most beautiful baby Scott has ever seen. His perfect daughter. A little peanut in a shell. His Peanut. His baby. His Cassandra. His Cassie. 

 

 **IV: Home**  
Sometimes, the flashbacks still haunt him.

Nightmares of the way the guards chained and beat them, sprayed them with freezing water, limited their meals and their bathroom privileges, promised them they’d never see the people they loved ever again. Still, the way they treated her was far worse than any of the abuse Clint took. “Three prisoners, and an asset” he heard the guards say. 

He had heard them torturing her with hideous devices. He had heard them deny her the most basic rights to food, to water, to the bathroom. He had heard her screams and felt her pain all throughout every hour of every day.

Sometimes he even has flashbacks of the day they were rescued. Steve had managed to spring Scott, and Sam, and himself from their cells. But when they managed to get to Wanda? The way she looked then still haunts him in his flashbacks today. Sallow skin, sunken eyes, hair matted and falling out, clothing beyond soiled and shredded. Rashes and scars formed around her ankles, wrists, and neck from where her restraints were placed. Her legs weak, but her arms even weaker. Clint remembers rushing to her, crying out for her, and trying to hold her. He remembers Scott holding him back while Sam relied on his pararescue knowledge and experience to try and help her until they could get her full medical attention. 

The flashbacks and nightmares still haunt him. But not today.

Today, he sees those beautiful blue eyes lighting up, as she walks into the room for the first time. 

“This...this is mine?” she cups her hands over her mouth as she gasps. “This--it’s so beautiful!” 

Clint and Laura exchange smiles and Clint can see both Laura’s and Wanda’s eyes start to sparkle and well up with tears. 

“I retrieved everything I could from the Avengers headquarters,” Laura speaks gently, running her fingers through Wanda’s hair, and resting her arm around her shoulder. “Everything we could to bring you home. You’re here now.” 

“You have a family,” Clint says, stepping in closer and wrapping an arm around her as well. “Not just this room, but this house, you’re part of us now. And I promise -- we promise -- we’ll always do right by you.” 

Wanda is turning her head and kissing both of their cheeks, first Laura’s and then Clint’s. She pulls them in tightly for a moment before letting go. “I want to lay on the--my bed!” She says it with an air of innocence that Clint has only ever heard from his children, and Wanda makes number four. 

He’s excited, not only for Wanda, but for what all of their futures hold here in the Barton household. He’s ready to share with her their meals, their porch swing, their television, and game nights. He’s ready to share his home and his family and his love. He hopes she’s ready to share the responsibility of being the big sister that Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel already view her being. 

They watch as Wanda takes in every detail of the room. Small gasps of delight as she turns on the small lamp on the nightstand or touches the soft material of the curtains. Of course, she lays for a moment on the bed and smells the pillow. Clint grins.

“Look on the dresser for a second,” he says, watching as she curiously stands up and approaches it. On top, there are two small, framed pictures.

The first one is in a brass frame with a photograph of Wanda sitting on the couch in their living room. Cooper and Lila sit on either side of her. In her lap, she is cradling a tiny, infant Nathaniel in her arms and smiling sweetly at him. The second picture is a little more faded, and sits in a black frame with silver gems in each corner. Wanda holds it to her chest the moment she sees it. A picture of her and Pietro posed somewhere in Sokovia. Smiling together, their arms around each other. Laura had found it when she retrieved all of Wanda’s things from the headquarters. 

Clint watches as she touches each picture gently, setting them back on the dresser, and then bursts into tears. “Thank you, dat,” she whispers before turning to him. He’s making his way over to her, arms around her. He holds her for a moment before quietly whispering, “It’s okay. You’re home.” 

 

 **V: Holiday**  
It may have been Scott’s idea, but ultimately it was funded by Hope in the end. The planning had been done mostly by Laura, and it took more than a little effort to bring three young children onto the plane, but they finally made it. 

Scott laughs as Cassie pulls his hand, and Lila pulls on Clint’s. “We have to ride the teacup ride again! Please!” 

“But what about Thunder Mountain?” Cooper protests, “We already did the teacup ride!” 

“Calm down,” Laura chimes in. “We have three days to ride everything as many times as we want.” It seems to calm Cooper down.

Clint can’t remember the last time he took his family on an actual vacation. Of course there were plenty of times when they’d pack up for a picnic on the nearby lake, or spend a day at the local zoo or waterpark, but this? This was a luxury he could never truly afford with his work responsibilities. Of course, Scott had been to his ranch with Cassie on more than one occasion ever since they’d returned from the RAFT, and both of their young daughters had become fast friends. Still, he’d never taken the time to go out to San Francisco -- with two young children and a toddler, it never seemed like a feasible option, even now with Wanda’s helping hand in the family. So, when Scott called him with the offer to fly his entire family out for a trip to Disneyland together, Clint had of course hesitated. It took more than a little encouragement from both Scott and Laura, but in the end, seeing his children’s faces light up when he told them about the trip, he knew it would be worth it. 

He was right.

Scott remembers coming here with Cassie when she was barely out of diapers, and some things never change. He’s been dragged on and off the teacup and Dumbo rides more times than he cares to admit, and waited in more lines for princess autographs for more hours than he cares to count, but seeing that joy on Cassie’s face every time reminds him that there’s no place else he’d rather be. He doesn’t remember exactly how the idea came up, but it had mostly been Cassie’s in the first place. He remembers her saying that they needed a vacation from being Ant-Man and Hawkeye. When he asked her what kind of vacation they should take, her immediate reaction was of course, “to Disneyland!” The whole notion stuck with Scott until he found himself begging Hope to come along. 

“Come on, Dad, let’s go! The line looks short this time!” 

They only waited about twenty-five minutes after Clint insisted that they go with Cooper’s request this time, and ride Thunder Mountain. Clint climbs into the small car next to him while Scott sits with Cassie, and Lila sits with Wanda. Laura waves to them from behind as she holds a squirming Nathaniel, and they all buckle their seatbelts and pull down their lap bars. 

“You gotta keep your hands up,” Cooper yells as the roller coaster climbs the tracks, holding his arms in the air. Almost everyone except Wanda and Lila do the same. 

They’re all laughing and screaming as the coaster races down the hill and around the bends, through makeshift canyons and mountains. Scott’s yelling “YAHOO!” while Wanda yells something in her native language that Clint isn’t entirely sure they need translated. The girls shriek in excitement as the ride finally comes around to its final stop. Clint and Cooper haven’t put their hands down yet. 

Cassie is asking again to ride the teacups when they unbuckle the belts and climb out of the train cars. Scott is laughing as he answers her, “soon, Peanut.” Clint’s and Wanda are holding onto each of Lila’s hands, and his other arm is around Cooper’s shoulders. He nods to Scott as they find Laura, giggling and talking in excitement about the next part of their family adventure.


End file.
